I plan on buying an iPhone.
While we have been in Amrika, the 6 and 6+ have been launched. That happened on the 19th of September. As we drove past the NYC store on the 22nd, I couldn't believe the queues outside. I mean, I get the first day, but this was 3 days later. Forget about visiting that store!
Today we did a tiki tour of the Copley Place shopping area, and walked past another Apple Store. This is the 29th, and it's been 10 days since the launch. But there was a queue outside this store. Oddly, I could walk in and look around. There was a longer queue upstairs. Apparently, those upstairs have a phone reserved to pick up. Those outside the door are wanting to buy. They are issued a voucher and a phone booked for them. I asked one of the blue shirts what would happen if I wanted to buy a phone. He agreed that I would be sent to the back of the outside queue. Bugger that. I'll wait till I get to Sydney.
In the Copley Place mall, I saw a Microsoft store. This is something they have been doing recently, looking remarkably similar to the Apple store.
As we walked past, I asked Sarah how you can tell it's a Microsoft store, and not an Apple store.
Logo? No, easier than that.
There's no queue! Ha ha!!
I try to avoid the whole light side-dark side argument about Apple. It's no secret that I use Apple products, but I can't believe the anger and vitriol online from both sides.
For those living under a rock for the last few years, or who still have a flip phone, here's the Readers Digest version of the evolution of the smartphone:
1) Apple invented the modern smartphone. That's just a fact. Like most things Apple have done, the idea has existed before them, but they put the spark of life into it. Smartphones were around before the iPhone, but they all looked like the Blackberry. Tiny keyboard. After the iPhone, every new smartphone had a touch screen and no keyboard.
2) Apple made themselves unpopular by suing Samsung for copying the iPhone look and feel. What would you have done? You are given a patent for the way something looks, and then somebody copies it. Make a soda bottle that looks even close to the famous coke bottle shape, and the Coca Cola company will send a fleet of lawyer up your arse. But Apple must accept that a good idea cannot be protected?
3) Apple kept strict control on the look and feel of everything on the iPhone. People who wanted to personalise their phones complained about that, and supported any OS that would let them tinker with it. It's funny how few people would have complained in 1998 that Nokia only had one font, and they couldn't change the keyboard.
4) Once there became choice, people wanted more than Apple was prepared to offer. So there was Android from Google, an open source operating system, that you can tinker with to your hearts content.
5) The Google marketing people have done their jobs remarkably well, because suddenly millions of people want every adjustment possible on their phones. If the iPhone wouldn't do it, it must be a vital new feature and Android would give it to you.
6) Slowly Android got better and better, and in many ways it was better than iOS. Samsung, the major Android player, has released some nice phones. At the end of the day, though, I like the way iOS just makes sense. No instruction manual required. Simple.
7) There are many phones from many manufacturers and from many service providers. Each one can modify Android to their own style, with proprietary software loaded on each phone. There are also many versions of Android, and each supplier releases the version tuned for their phones in their own time, if at all. As a result, Android has become fragmented. There are many phones still running older versions of Android, and these will never be upgraded.
8) When you sweep away all the crap, this is the important thing. Apple makes beautiful phones that are easy to use. Android is getting easier and easier to use, and many phones that run it are very impressive. That's all that matters. The differences and advantages of one over another are only noticeable by a handful of people with no life. For the rest of us, it's a matter of personal choice.
9) My personal choice is that I prefer Apple. In fact, I doubt that I can even turn an Android phone one, I certainly wouldn't know what to do with a Galaxy 5.
10) I've always thought that the idea of bigger and bigger phones is pretty absurd. When Samsung released some of theirs, they looked plain silly. It's like slapping an iPad up the side of your head. Plain silly. I was always pleased that Apple resisted the urge to go big. In fact, I wasn't best pleased when they took the iPhone 5 to a longer form factor than my 4S.
11) I need to upgrade, but I will certainly not be getting the 6 Plus. It's silly. I have handled both, and neither feels wrong, but the 6 will do me.
While we have been in Amrika, the 6 and 6+ have been launched. That happened on the 19th of September. As we drove past the NYC store on the 22nd, I couldn't believe the queues outside. I mean, I get the first day, but this was 3 days later. Forget about visiting that store!
Today we did a tiki tour of the Copley Place shopping area, and walked past another Apple Store. This is the 29th, and it's been 10 days since the launch. But there was a queue outside this store. Oddly, I could walk in and look around. There was a longer queue upstairs. Apparently, those upstairs have a phone reserved to pick up. Those outside the door are wanting to buy. They are issued a voucher and a phone booked for them. I asked one of the blue shirts what would happen if I wanted to buy a phone. He agreed that I would be sent to the back of the outside queue. Bugger that. I'll wait till I get to Sydney.
In the Copley Place mall, I saw a Microsoft store. This is something they have been doing recently, looking remarkably similar to the Apple store.
As we walked past, I asked Sarah how you can tell it's a Microsoft store, and not an Apple store.
Logo? No, easier than that.
There's no queue! Ha ha!!
I try to avoid the whole light side-dark side argument about Apple. It's no secret that I use Apple products, but I can't believe the anger and vitriol online from both sides.
For those living under a rock for the last few years, or who still have a flip phone, here's the Readers Digest version of the evolution of the smartphone:
1) Apple invented the modern smartphone. That's just a fact. Like most things Apple have done, the idea has existed before them, but they put the spark of life into it. Smartphones were around before the iPhone, but they all looked like the Blackberry. Tiny keyboard. After the iPhone, every new smartphone had a touch screen and no keyboard.
2) Apple made themselves unpopular by suing Samsung for copying the iPhone look and feel. What would you have done? You are given a patent for the way something looks, and then somebody copies it. Make a soda bottle that looks even close to the famous coke bottle shape, and the Coca Cola company will send a fleet of lawyer up your arse. But Apple must accept that a good idea cannot be protected?
3) Apple kept strict control on the look and feel of everything on the iPhone. People who wanted to personalise their phones complained about that, and supported any OS that would let them tinker with it. It's funny how few people would have complained in 1998 that Nokia only had one font, and they couldn't change the keyboard.
4) Once there became choice, people wanted more than Apple was prepared to offer. So there was Android from Google, an open source operating system, that you can tinker with to your hearts content.
5) The Google marketing people have done their jobs remarkably well, because suddenly millions of people want every adjustment possible on their phones. If the iPhone wouldn't do it, it must be a vital new feature and Android would give it to you.
6) Slowly Android got better and better, and in many ways it was better than iOS. Samsung, the major Android player, has released some nice phones. At the end of the day, though, I like the way iOS just makes sense. No instruction manual required. Simple.
7) There are many phones from many manufacturers and from many service providers. Each one can modify Android to their own style, with proprietary software loaded on each phone. There are also many versions of Android, and each supplier releases the version tuned for their phones in their own time, if at all. As a result, Android has become fragmented. There are many phones still running older versions of Android, and these will never be upgraded.
8) When you sweep away all the crap, this is the important thing. Apple makes beautiful phones that are easy to use. Android is getting easier and easier to use, and many phones that run it are very impressive. That's all that matters. The differences and advantages of one over another are only noticeable by a handful of people with no life. For the rest of us, it's a matter of personal choice.
9) My personal choice is that I prefer Apple. In fact, I doubt that I can even turn an Android phone one, I certainly wouldn't know what to do with a Galaxy 5.
10) I've always thought that the idea of bigger and bigger phones is pretty absurd. When Samsung released some of theirs, they looked plain silly. It's like slapping an iPad up the side of your head. Plain silly. I was always pleased that Apple resisted the urge to go big. In fact, I wasn't best pleased when they took the iPhone 5 to a longer form factor than my 4S.
11) I need to upgrade, but I will certainly not be getting the 6 Plus. It's silly. I have handled both, and neither feels wrong, but the 6 will do me.
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